This blog's purpose is to document the local excesses from the housing bubble era.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Bigger Bonuses Please

Forget those Caterpillar folks - there is no way they can possibly work as hard as our nation's Wall Street crew. It is fundamentally important to our well being that the status quo must be maintained. Old executives should stay on - after all who knows the industry better. And spend tax dollars on heating for our elderly and poor? Wall Streeters are more appreciative and also know how to spend and make money - so they need our extra tax dollars to keep them in their lifestyles.

Since Wall Street did so fantastic over the past year it is only fair that various firms employees got bonuses. But for some strange reason only 12% received bonuses that were 50% or more larger than last year. No wonder the employees are so mad! This is a time that the nation should come together and support this poor neglected industry. Thank god for the government intervention so the good old times can last.

While some of the above sentiments may seem absurd to the rest of the country - apparently it is the feeling on the Street. From on article at MSNBC titled Wall Street Mostly Got Smaller Year-End Bonuses a survey reveals the annual bonuses - and the feelings about them. Lets take a look -

Most Wall Street professionals took home smaller year-end bonuses and nearly half were dissatisfied with their payout, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The survey, by eFinancialCareers.com, a unit of specialty jobs site operator Dice Holdings Inc, found 54 percent of respondents took home a smaller bonus this year.

More than a third reported getting a bonus that was at least 31 percent less than last year's, and 1-in-10 said their bonus was slashed more than 70 percent.

At the other end of the scale, 12 percent said their bonus was at least 51 percent higher than last year, according to the survey, which included responses from 900 currently employed people and was conducted earlier this month.

That reflects continued demand for talented finance professionals, despite one of the most turbulent years in Wall Street history, eFinancialCareers Chief Executive John Benson said.

"The future of the financial services industry may be opaque, but the industry has a vital role to play in the global economy," Benson said.

One in five respondents said they were not satisfied with their bonus, while another 26 percent said they were very dissatisfied. A majority said they expected to be job hunting in 2009.

So 46% percent of those that answered the survey received bonuses but were not satisfied with their bonuses. Our "tax-paying" feeling is just to fire the lot of the 46% that feel this way - anyone working at a bailed out company and answered that should be fired. But apparently it is demand that has kept them in their positions - not $350 billion of tax dollars.

Are they really that insulated that they feel justified for feeling very dissatisfied that as the economic viability is deteriorating they did not get enough money. Not only has nothing changed on Wall Street - apparently they do not even know the changes that the rest of the country is going to.

Do 46% of our best and brightest lack any sense of decency? Apparently!